


keepsake

by watchmyback



Series: sasusaku month [5]
Category: Naruto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-05
Updated: 2014-07-05
Packaged: 2018-02-07 15:04:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1903497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watchmyback/pseuds/watchmyback
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the village felt almost like he’d never walked its streets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	keepsake

Naturally, she’d kept it.  She’d never told Naruto.  

It was days after Naruto’s and Sasuke’s battle at the Valley of the End.  Naruto still hadn’t woken up, and Sasuke had left home again.  Sakura felt so poignantly singular that day.  Her team lay in broken, jagged pieces at her feet.  Perhaps she should have shied away from the mess, distancing herself from its dangerously sharp debris.  She only saw more reason to pull herself closer.  After all, how was she expected to fix things from a distance?

Anyhow, the role of peacemaker had always fallen on her shoulders.  Sasuke and Naruto’s fighting irked Kakashi, but he only ever intervened when things got serious.  The trivial everyday spats didn’t interest him; Sakura was forced to hear them much more frequently.  It’d stopped being truly annoying long ago, but she did like to keep the two on amicable terms.

She’d gotten worse and worse at defusing tension as time wore on.  The whirl of the rasengan and the chirp of the chidori still echoed in her ears.  Sakura would give anything to bring back the sound of their bickering.  

Originally, she had gone to the hospital to visit Naruto.  The decision not to bring apple slices was painfully clear.  Instead, she brought oranges; their vibrant color reminded her of him as she passed them in the shops.  

Sakura had never minded looking after her team mates.  Honestly, she’d always slightly enjoyed it.  But she was beginning to worry that there wouldn’t be anyone left to look after.

After telling the small woman at the front desk her name, she was led back to Naruto’s room.  He was still sleeping and hooked up to a million different machines that easily dwarfed him.  Naruto was barely as tall as she was, but here he looked so much smaller.  She watched him absently for awhile, so thankful for his existence, but cursing her own.  If she’d had been there, she only would’ve made things worse; Naruto would’ve paid too much attention to her safety.  All the same, she couldn’t help but wish to have been present.  

It was the mark of a weakling, she thought, watching your teammate fight your battles for you.  She told as much to Naruto’s sleeping form.  

Sakura had often had conversations with them like this.  After Sasuke’s battle with Itachi, every morning she’d tell him softly all about her yesterday.  Even if he had just been sleeping, her voice wouldn’t’ve been loud enough to wake him up.  

After saying goodbye to Naruto she smiled, just a little, when she realized he slept with his mouth open.  Seeing it shut was a rare sight indeed.  Passing by the main desk again, the woman from earlier stopped her.

“You were just in Naruto Uzumaki’s room, yes?”  Sakura mutely nodded.  “What’s your relationship to the patient?”

“He’s a friend.  My teammate, too.”  Saying those words, she realized he might not be for much longer.  

“Would you take these for him?  They were recovered from the valley.”  Reaching under her desk, she presented Sakura with a bag of clothing.  

Naruto’s small apartment wasn’t too far from the hospital, near the center of the village.  A five minute stroll placed her at his doorstep, and, as suspected, he left his front door unlocked.  Sakura sighed, but assumed that locking it when she left would only result in future chaos.  Upon entrance, she found Naruto’s apartment to be the same as ever.  Still horribly messy, still filled with empty ramen cups.  She resigned herself to cleaning it for him after putting away his clothes, and set off to his closet.

There wasn’t much clothing in the bag- she pulled out his sandals and his jacket first, along with his headband.  As she reached in for the last item, her heart sank.

A standard issue Kohona headband with a clean slice across it.  

Sasuke’s.  

She sat on the floor and cried.  She cried for Sasuke, for Naruto (had he put the mark there?), for Kakashi-sensei, for Team 7.  She cried for herself, because the mark on that headband felt like a direct slash on her heart.  

Hour passed, and when she left Naruto’s newly cleaned apartment, she took it with her.  As much as it hurt, she’d take anything of Sasuke’s that made his presence feel concrete.  The village felt almost like he’d never walked its streets.  Furthermore, she didn’t want Naruto to see it.  Whether or not he’d put the mark there, whether or not he’d ever admit it to her; Sakura knew seeing it would hurt him.  

When she walked back home, she walked with a purpose.  

She’d carry it until she was strong enough to tie it back on his head.


End file.
